Search Results for: "sword & sorcery"

Literary Wonder & Adventure Podcast Presents: Robert E. Howard, Master of Sword & Sorcery: A Conversation with Author Howard Andrew Jones

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I have thoroughly enjoyed the last two audio shows from Robert Zoltan’s Dream Tower Media, a lively conversation with Black Gate blogger Ryan Harvey on Edgar Rice Burroughs, and a fascinating discussion with Scott Oden on the history and writing of J.R.R. Tolkien. So I was very excited to see that for Episode #4 the subject was the distinguished Howard Andrew Jones, author of the beloved Dabir & Asim Arabian fantasy tales, and the future bestseller For the Killing of Kings, out next…

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Heavy Metal Lyrics, Sword & Sorcery Fantasy and Video Games: A Cultural Synergy by Dr. Fred Adams

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Last year, Dr Fred C. Adams, Ph.D., joined our parade of writers in the Discovering Robert E. Howard series with an entry on Esau Cairn, REH’s classic science fiction character. Dr. Adams is back for another guest post here at Black Gate. Put on your headphones and go! The parallel (and almost simultaneous) ascensions of heavy metal music, video game technology (which later migrated to personal computers), and sword and sorcery fantasy to mass popularity from the early 1970s forward…

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Gardner Dozois on the New Sword & Sorcery

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On Facebook yesterday editor Gardner Dozois theorized that the essential influence on modern Sword & Sorcery, which differentiates it from the classic pulp S&S of Robert E. Howard and Fritz Leiber, may be the Spaghetti Western. While we’re talking about fantasy, I’ve been reading a lot of what’s being called “the New Sword & Sorcery” lately, stuff by people like Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch, K.J. Parker, Daniel Abraham, and it struck me what the one essential influence was that aesthetically…

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Neil Gaiman and Kazuo Ishiguro on Sword & Sorcery

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The New Republic has posted a lengthy conversation on fantasy, titled Breaking the Boundaries Between Fantasy and Literary Fiction, between Neil Gaiman (The Graveyard Book, American Gods) and Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day, The Buried Giant). Among other fascinating topics, the two discuss sword & sorcery, and the different cultural approaches to swordfights.

A Neglected Classic from the Golden Age of Sword & Sorcery: H. Warner Munn’s Merlin Cycle

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I first encountered H. Warner Munn by chance. Or maybe he encountered me, and it was more than pure chance. I started reading fantasy and science fiction in high school, when a friend recommended Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonflight books. I dutifully took the first one out of the public library and soldiered through it. I was impressed enough to decide to start broadening my narrow literary horizons. The problem was that, in South Africa in the 1980’s, the big book sellers…

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John W. Campbell on Tolkien, Conan, and Sword & Sorcery

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Gordon van Gelder, the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, has posted a fascinating excerpt from The John W. Campbell Letters, Volume 1. The excerpt is from a September 7, 1967 letter to Analog author and Hugo Award winning writer Gordon R. Dickson, author of Dorsai! and Soldier, Ask Not, and it captures the frustrations of the top SF editor in the country as he senses his audience being lured away by the growing popularity of J.R.R….

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The Finest Sword & Sorcery: Announcing the Winners of the Stalking the Beast Contest

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Last month we invited Black Gate readers to tell us about the best sword & sorcery tale they’d ever read, in one paragraph or less. In return, we offered to award a copy of Howard Andrew Jones’ terrific new Pathfinder Tales book, Stalking the Beast, the follow-up to his hit Pathfinder release Plague of Shadows from Paizo Publishing, to five lucky winners. Those five winners were randomly drawn from the list of all qualified entrants. Before we announce the winners, let’s have a look at some of the story…

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Tell Us Your Favorite Sword & Sorcery Tale, and Win One of Five Copies of Stalking the Beast!

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We enjoy discussing sword & sorcery here at Black Gate. And we love to give away free stuff. So this week, we decided to combine our two favorite hobbies. Specifically, we want to hear about your favorite sword & sorcery tale — novel or short story — and we want to give you one of five copies of Howard Andrew Jones’s exciting new Pathfinder Tales novel, Stalking the Beast, the follow-up to his hit Pathfinder release Plague of Shadows, All five copies were provided by the fine folks at Paizo…

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Sword & Sorcery for the Girl Who Wants to be Conan: Gaie Sebold’s Babylon Steel

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I can’t keep up with all the fabulous fiction rolling off the assembly lines of the great factories of modern publishing (I can just barely stay on top of the story-a-week we publish here at Black Gate, truth be told). It’s amazing… I spend all day – and most of the night – reading and writing about this genre, and still can’t encompass it all. Either we live in amazing times, or being hopelessly clueless is just an intrinsic part…

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Celebrate the Sword & Sorcery Tradition of David Gemmell with Legends

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We’ve been reporting on the David Gemmell Legend Award for the past four summers. It’s usually awarded in July and last year it went to The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. There have been some changes this year, however. The big one is that the award has been moved to be part of the World Fantasy Convention, which happens every Halloween. More interesting to heroic fantasy fans, however, is the impending release of Legends: Stories in Honour of David…

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